Finding meaning

FINDING MEANING
A life without meaning is a life without hope because it means not moving forward to higher things but just going around in futile or unnecessary things. It is important to know that we are being led forward by God on a journey into a higher purpose in God at this time of spiritual challenge. When Israel was taken out of Egypt and led by Moses through the wilderness to get to the Promised Land they found themselves on a journey of discovering the meaning of their life and purpose, and there are lessons for in us these days that we can learn from how they reacted to the challenges of enormous change and disruption so that we can be led by God into our destiny.

1Corinthians 10:1 I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about Israel in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground. They drank from the spiritual rock that travelled with them, and that rock was Christ. Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and many died in the wilderness. Nor should we put Christ to the test, and don’t grumble as some of them did. These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to instruct us who live at the end of the age.

It was too hard for Israel, on the inside, to totally to leave the situation they had been in because it meant too much change. When they got to the Red Sea they were too afraid to go across but God did the miracle of parting the waters and they went through. They were also too afraid to enter straight into the Promised Land almost two years later because they saw themselves as helpless grasshoppers in the face of the giants in the land (except for Joshua and Caleb – 10 spies saw nothing but danger and threat and that caused the people to rebel and refuse to go in - Joshua and Caleb saw nothing but fruitfulness and marvellous potential and triumph). So God told Moses that they would wander for another thirty eight more years – forty all together. The actual trek from where they came out of Egypt to Kadesh Barnea, which is the entrance point into the Promised Land can be hiked in eleven days!- by a hiker, not two million people walking slowly (It is across the top of the triangle that is the Sinai Peninsula) However God led them to Kadesh Barneaby their following the cloud of the Holy Spirit on a particular route down to the bottom of the Sinai Peninsula and back up again. That was the two-year part of the journey during in which time he challenged their faith and trust in him by testing their attitudes and reactions to real life survival challenges. 
It would have been like a reality TV survival show where all the worst attitudes in the survivors come to the surface. They went without water for three days and complained bitterly to Moses against God - so God did the miracle where Moses strikes the Rock with his rod bringing forth water (Christ the Rock releases the living water of the Holy Spirit to us). They despised the miracle food called manna that God provided for them and complained that it didn’t taste as good as the food they had in Egypt. They gave up on God when Moses disappeared for six weeks up on top of Mt. Sinai to get the Commandments on tablets of stone, and they made the idol of the golden calf. From the time that God had Moses go to Pharaoh and say ‘let my people go’ and then to go through all the plagues and warnings to Pharaoh who finally said ‘get out of here’ it was at least forty days. The saying goes; It took forty days to get Israel out Egypt  but it took forty years to get the Egypt out of Israel. This meant an unnecessary going around for forty years instead of going forward and going straight in to their land, but they had to learn the meaning and purpose of God for them as a people and that had to wait for the next generation who went into the land under Joshua and Caleb.
Their journey was an example and a warning for us in our generation about not coming to a standstill and going round and round without a sense of meaning or purpose, but going forward in that purpose of God as his people. The world today is experiencing a time of crisis of endurance and survival where many things have come to a standstill, and many people are going round and round, having lost a sense of meaning and purpose in these challenges. We are on a journey with God. This is a time for us to pause and assess where we are individually and as God’s people and to assess where we are going. It is important to know that we are being led forward into a higher purpose in God at this time of spiritual challenge. It is also important to know what we have to do to find meaning on this journey. It means wanting to be where we are going more than staying where we are, and not going round and round as Israel did for forty years. 

A life without meaning is a life without hope. Finding meaning in life is an inner experience of pursuing our highest spiritual goals. For us this means finding partnership with Jesus in every challenge of our life’s journey. The challenge becomes magnified when we are experiencing totally unforeseen situations that require radical change, and the world is in that kind of situation at present. 

We face challenges like survival against an invisible virus, managing an economy that has been overburdened with unanticipated demands upon resources, because the workplace is being demolished. This creates a sense in people of a lack of meaning
We face challenges like the devastating emotional and mental consequences of the hopelessness and confusion and despair of so many needy people. Lack of meaning

Politicians are overwhelmed with such grave responsibilities and many are so preoccupied with grasping for political survival that they are making dangerous errors of judgement, like inviting interference from Communist China to inveigle us into disastrous alliances. Lack of meaning. 

Attempts by people at various levels of government and by political activists to manipulate the uncertainties of our social situation because of special interest ideologies are both foolish and sinister. Ideologies go wrong when people apply an intense narrow focus on things which are not the big picture. Lack of meaning

Many people including some Christians have gone into denial with conspiracy theories that beggar belief, and saying that the virus is a hoax, and ignoring or scoffing common sense precautions. Lack of meaning.

Many regular people who were managing things well enough now find things unmanageable because these challenges have not been faced before. Lack of meaning and sense of futility (giants in the Land)
So for many, the entire situation can appear to have little or no meaning.

That means getting new perspective and understanding and wisdom. It means finding deeper faith, deeper courage and deeper meaning in what we do. But there is meaning in everything that happens in God and we can find that meaning. Reality never disappears when you work at what is real and not just imagined. 
So, are we going forward or just going around? We have everything we need to go forward and find meaning in everything we do.

Here are three pathways for finding meaning in challenging circumstances;

Creative action – When God created the world the Bible says it was without form and void. God brought order into this disorder, or chaos through his Word. We have that creative Logos within us giving us the faith to bring God’s creative order out of disorder. Whenever we do something out of the creative spiritual gift or ability given to us by God we act with that same reordering action of faith! It is a scientific fact that anything left to itself unattended deteriorates or corrupts into a state of disorder- the atomic and sub atomic nature of particles in material things causes them to perish either from the inside out or the outside in. It is the same with things that we have to attend to, like in our relationships or wise self-management of our health or finance or material possessions, we are bringing order out of chaos or disorder, and that is always a meaningful thing to do. We live in a world that has fallen into disorder and corruption in so many ways. It requires energy and action and willingness to be part of the reordering of life in this world and you are called to be a part of that. God is a God of order. 
2 Timothy 1:7 –Not fear (deilia- intimidation) but Power and love and an ordered mind. 

Enduring suffering – Finding hope and strength in times of stress or loss or anxiety or weakness or sickness. This is where miracles of faith happen because Jesus is always with us in those times. That is what having a Saviour is all about, a rescuer in stormy and perilous times 

Matthew 14:24 Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves. About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, “It’s a ghost!”
But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here!”
Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.” “Yes, come,” Jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted. Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?”
When they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped.

Recall the times that Jesus has rescued you in the storms - and expect that to continue. 

Loving care – It was out of love that God created us and it is his love that gives meaning to our lives. There was great meaning for God in creating the universe but what had greatest meaning for God was creating you out of his overflow of love. You were adopted (placed in his family) alongside of Jesus. 
John 17:26 I I will continue to make your name known so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them…vs.23…and you have loved them even as you loved me. The Father loves us a much as he loves Jesus. That is his secret weapon for transforming our lives, not force or coercion but knowing his love.
knowing the greatness his love for us not only gives our personal lives our greatest meaning but it makes loving others more meaningful. Caring for the needs of others in family or extended family, friends or strangers that come across your path gives our lives together its Real Meaning.